The oddest line in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" consists of two words: "Kill Claudio!"

The speaker is Beatrice, a high-class middle-age lady. She is talking to her fiance, Benedick, a high-class middle-age gentleman. Claudio is Benedick's long-time friend.

Beatrice has her motives. Claudio has wronged her beloved cousin, Hero. And Beatrice wants to test Benedick's feelings for her. He has a reputation as a trifler. Is he capable of taking Beatrice and her grievance seriously?

"It's a strange moment," says Stephanie Shine, who is playing Beatrice for a second time in a Seattle Shakespeare Company production of "Much Ado." "The line can get a huge laugh. But I think this time it will seem deadly serious. Beatrice gets older as I get older, of course. I hope to God that I am wiser and deeper now than I was eight years ago.

" 'Much Ado' is a very funny romantic comedy. But Beatrice says, 'Kill Claudio' at an intensely dramatic moment. We're doing the production as written. This is supposed to be Italy 300 or 400 years ago. Honor was a serious matter."

The 1999 SSC "Much Ado" was set in the early 20th century. Honor might have been a serious matter then, too. But the slander against the virginal Hero would require, at most, a couple of "Sopranos"-style bullets in Claudio's knees.

Shine also is artistic director of the SSC. One factor that has added to her seriousness and wisdom has been the struggle to keep her company alive. Four years ago, doom threatened. Fund raising and ticket sales did not go as well as she had hoped. An ambitious production of the frilly comedy "Love's Labour's Lost" was canceled. In its place, the SSC offered a two-actor collage titled "Lovers & Madmen," a sort of compendium of Shakespeare's greatest hits.

"All through 'Lovers & Madmen' rehearsals, I was afraid I'd be getting a call from the board telling me to cancel the show. I was afraid that maybe the company wouldn't survive. But the board pulled us through."

Since then, fund raising and ticket sales have improved. Shine's annual budget has doubled to $700,000. Last year SSC staged its postponed "Love's Labour's Lost." The company is completing its 15th season.

Like nearly all artistic directors, Shine is working on attracting that elusive "younger audience." The challenge is particularly difficult in her case. Shakespeare, with his arcane and complex plots and characters, tends to attract older audiences. "Students come as part of school groups," she says. "But after graduation you lose those kids."

One solution is cute guys. Women buy most theater tickets. "It helped with 'Romeo and Juliet,' last year," Shine notes. "We had that rock band on stage. And those guys were SO HANDSOME!

"And if you've got a hunk in the cast, let him take his shirt off." A particularly cunning application of the "shirt-off" principle occurred in Shine's production of "The Taming of the Shrew." It combined low comedy with eye candy. Actor David Goldstein, in a fit of jealous rage, had a World Wrestling Entertainment moment. He literally tore off his T-shirt -- ripped it down the front -- and tossed it aside before going after a rival."

"David is great," Shine says. "He did that one day at rehearsal and it really cracked me up. So we decided to keep it in. One of our biggest expenses for that production was T-shirts for David."